Personal comment

So a couple of days ago I cancelled Facebook, Instagram, Whats-App because I really had run out of reasons to keep them on. What really surprised me is what happened after I closed the accounts.

Have you checked your social media today yet?

For a while I had figured that social media wasn’t really as social as it was intended to be, just allot of sharing but not so much interaction, at least in my case. It was nice to see family pictures but that was about it. I felt with the way Facebook handles personal information, we are the commodity and they use it as they want! It was time to say goodbye as far as I was concerned!

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” – Zig Ziglar

The thing that surprised me the most after leaving social, or becoming less social, was how much more free I felt. The feeling of having to check a notification or get onto some app to see what has happened since I was on last is gone. It was like walking onto an open field of grass and being able to just have time to myself, I never expected that! I still kept Twitter and of course WordPress. Which is why I am writing a post the day after I wrote the last one. I have the feeling of not being disturbed, I am free. I can of course still do things with my iPhone that I used apps for. I called my sister abroad using FaceTime audio instead of Whats-App and it worked fine. So I might be posting on WordPress a bit more now I have the time.

You have been Warned!

So I finally let Facebook, Instagram, Whats App go as I am sick of wondering where they will either sell my stuff or just plain lose it due to carelessness. If you wonder what Facebook takes from you read their privacy policy it will scare the shit out of you click here.

I have been agonizing about this for a long time (Go Figure!). Later this year I will formally be starting my own business in website design, and I felt it was correct to have an online presence as my business was online, but I changed my mind, more about that in a later post!

I have found that these social apps don’t really make me more sociable (personally). I just get to see what all the people I know are reading but not how they are feeling or what is going on in their lives. Not that I particularly need updates that much. The only reason it took me so long is there are many people I have worked with and hung out with. I may never see them again in real life but I could keep contact in some way. But at what cost if my info is hacked and I have to change my passwords and all the other crap that’s involve when your data is stolen. So I wanted to come on here and say that if you look there are alternatives to Facebook that are in fact the next generation of social media, and it’s quite exciting!

One Facebook alternative that I may try is MeWe as it’s based around privacy, and when you post a picture of your kids you still own the pictures not the company you posted it to.
The difference is that you pay for services, which is the model in Asia, and means you are not the commodity, the services are the commodity. This is a fundamental difference and it’s important. There are many other social apps, but they are very specific in the types of social interaction they present. I felt this was the closest as a replacement of Facebook.

This is from their website:
MeWe is free for members because privacy is not something anyone should ever have to pay for. All the great features that people love in social media and none of the BS are free and standard on MeWe including: private 1:1 and group chat; private and open groups; disappearing content; custom camera with Gif creation; live voice and live video; next-gen voice messaging; personal social cloud; custom group profiles; and much more.

In addition there are optional special features including extra storage (8GB is free, and 50GB is $4.99 per month), Secret Chat (like WhatsApp only without their egregious tracking) for $.99 cents per month, Custom Emojis at $.99 cents a packet, plus MeWe Pages (coming soon) at $2.99 per month, and special games exclusive to MeWe members.

At the moment I am burned out of social media, but I just wanted to share.
(pun intended)!

Before I lived in Los Angeles I lived in Europe, in a relatively small town in south Tipperary and in London. I have actually lived a quite a few locations over the years, mostly to do with work. once upon a time.
Of course one had to drive in Ireland to get anywhere, although public transportation around the country isn’t bad, it’s easier if you can drive!

My first experience driving was with my sisters husband, I think I was around 16 and the car was a Hillman Hunter. I was outside town and the small road was clear of any other traffic and might remain that way for days!

I was a bit wobbly but I managed to get the steering to a place I didn’t create too much fear in my passenger. After I left Ireland and headed back to London I went about getting Professional driving lessons. I was able to get the help I needed by a friend who taught divers out at Heathrow airport. Being a Irish community it will come as no surprise his name was Sean. So I went about getting a driving lesson every week for quite a while. Thing was after a bit we got the whole driving thing down it was more of a social thing every week. We would go for a drive and try some new things, then off to the pub for a couple of pints before he drove me home.

Before I took my driving test in England there was a permanent move back to Ireland due to family issues. So I am back in Ireland and it time to get a driving license. I applied and took the test and passed, Yay! I have a license and have the freedom of the road.

Well after you passed a test at that time 1980, you were presented with a certificate which was valid I think for fourteen month’s. Somebody in my family who will remain nameless said “why don’t you wait and use that time before you get the full license?”

So I did just that! And I waited until the cert had been used up before going for a full license. But being a cert and not a full license after it had expired (by a bloody day), it couldn’t be used to get a full license. So had to go take the bloody test again!!

I applied and yes of course I got the same instructor for the test. he was a bit surprised to see me again. Well it’s not something you would expect, but after I explained what happened he was going to make this as simple as possible.

First he asked me questions about road signs & we moved briskly out to the vehicle.
I did the required moving mirrors and making sure we were both strapped in. (Dangerous country roads you know). So he asked me to drive around the block, I did so without incident. We pulled in and he turned to me and asked “have you forgotten anything since I last saw you? I said “no” he said you passed, now go and get a bloody license!

Those that have been so kind to read the few words I post on here, as I am studying quite a bit & the old life thing going on I don’t have too much time to post.
I have found it difficult to put into words what I see politically and globally with what is going on.

Last night I was watching the series by James Burke entitled “The day the universe changed!”

We are back in 1984-1985 and the cold war is still up and running, the threat of nuclear war still looms & the world wonders what the future will hold.
We all know the mission to the moon was a pissing contest between Russia and the United States. With a side mission called scientific discovery. I was about 9 years old when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon & got to dress up as a spaceman in my class.

When I was in my teens I would read boys books about time and space and the future science will bring. It was exciting and full of hope for the future. Western countries stood for freedom of expression and movement, the idea you can make it if you try! The United States was by far the biggest economy so it was felt the best opportunities were there, not that it was any more free than any other western country.

Russia & China being the opposite of freedom, no freedom of movement and being told what you can and cannot do was not the way for the future of society, if we were to go to space and beyond!

Of course times change and the cold war ended & we left the moon and didn’t go back because we won the contest. The funding for science dropped because funding was never really about the science. Time moves along and technology moves into the mainstream. So there is money to be made, and today we have the web (light & dark). We have access to more info than any humans since the beginning. This was going to be the new dawn of humankind.

But of course the dark side was always possible, and with the availability of knowledge was the availability of crap, social media, fake sites, scams, identity theft, click bait, Fox News!

The Russians discover they can fight a media war because people aren’t equipped to filter, and they don’t know where to get news they can trust.
Trump calls any story he doesn’t like fake news because it doesn’t stroke his ego. News media continue to give time to stupid people to give the impression of being fair. People begin to believe the stupid people because they are getting exposure.

Before the 1970’s the christian right was part of the rest of the united states, probably just as happy with the moon landing and what science might bring for the future. A baby wasn’t a baby until it was a baby, not today when some consider a few cells to be a baby. But things changed and it may change what was once the bright future of the United States.

For some the multi-diverse idea of society breaks what they consider the mold from their youth. It was a fiction but real enough to them, and they feel it is gone & want to rekindle the past. They have been deceived into thinking it can come back. Society and business moves forward because business in the end wants to make a profit. The old industries are no longer really viable but they have been told the reason is immigrants, unions, the other side selling jobs overseas.

Business did move overseas, but it was purely for profit, and cheap labor. But another reason not mentioned too much was due to technological advances. Now we have people being voted into government who don’t believe in science, who want to make the United States a purely christian country, which goes against freedom of religion. I believe in freedom of religion, you should be able to practice what ever religion you choose. But do not try and impose your religious beliefs on me. If you take away my right to choose, I may as well be living in 1985 Russia or China!

The Year is about 1996 and I drove a beat up escort with only two seats, sometimes people mistook it for a mustang, but believe me when I say it wasn’t! I was living in Korea town because apartments were cheaper in that area at that time. I had to pay for parking in a LOT that was beside the building that was also used for public parking during the day and had attendants.

It was early evening and I had shopped for groceries and pulled into the parking LOT heading towards the rear where I liked to park. I wasn’t paying too much attention to what was actually going on in the LOT, minding my own business kind of thing. I parked and retrieved my two bags of groceries intending to head to my lovely single apartment. I turned and a few things happened pretty much at the same time!

First I heard the screeching as the police cars drove at speed into the LOT! I see them stop and get out pointing weapons at a group of maybe a dozen asian males in the center of the LOT. There was a helicopter overhead with the bright light beaming down upon the group of males, oh I forgot to mention that were all dressed the same, dark long pants but no tops on! I figured it was either a weird topless gang or a boy-band!

So there I was standing on the edge of this drama waiting patiently with my grocery bags in hand, trying to figure out what my next move will be. I had to walk by this drama to exit the LOT! Well to cut a short story even shorter the Gang/Boyband decided to prostrate themselves on the ground under police guidance. When they had complied to the extent that I figured I could remove myself from the situation I did so.